Apple's latest ads premiered Friday in support of the Olympics. The three commercials show a "Genius," someone you would encounter at your Genius Bar appointment, in other settings where his savvy comes to the rescue.
The Genius helps technologically inept acquaintances understand how simple it is to use the product they've recently purchased -- but the humor misses the mark.
Instead of showing the simplicity of the operating system, they seem to be emphasizing the ineptitude of those who do not know how to use the machine.
While Mac fanboys can often make Apple seem exclusive, these ads play on that ineffectively by furthering that stereotype. This may have been inadvertent, but is present nonetheless.
Where Apple's previous ads famously delivered smart, concise quips that allowed users of PCs and Macs to chuckle, their latest are benign and simple instead of inclusive.
By featuring a Genius in these settings, Apple makes it seem as though new customers won't be able to figure it out once they take their machine home.